Reflections — Pastor’s Blog

Movie sequels often fail to live up to the original movie. Acts is a sequel to the Gospel of Luke, but the impact, if anything, increases in Part 2. Acts 1:1–5 introduces Luke’s second volume, calling you to listen to what Jesus continues to do and teach, to learn about the kingdom, and to live as one who has been baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Understand Jesus’ instructions about his kingdom. Acts is the continuation of the words and deeds of Jesus. Luke, who authored the Gospel that bears his name, has told you what Jesus began to do and teach (Luke 1:1–4). The clear implication is that this second volume is the continuation of that story. The continuing work of Christ in Acts is the work of the Spirit, more specifically, the Spirit working in and through the church. Very early church history identifies Luke as the author. He was Paul’s companion and was a physician. He was a careful researcher and historian. He not only knew his Old Testament well (was he a “God-fearer”?) but the Old Testament Scriptures influenced how he wrote this book (notice how the account of the conversion of Saul is told and re-told). The book contains theology, but it’s there tucked into the history that Luke records. And it is reliable history because the Holy Spirit is the ultimate author.

Continue reading “The Gospel — Part 2”

How is a nation established? What makes it great? In Matthew 28:16–20 Jesus gives his disciples — and you — the instructions and formula for building a lasting kingdom.

Jesus fulfills the good news. The Great Commission is the conclusion of the Gospel. Notice the repeated geographic emphasis on Galilee. Here Jesus had begun his public ministry, Matthew 4:12. Here he had

preached the Sermon on the Mount and performed many miracles. Then in Matthew 16:21 he begins his journey towards Jerusalem to suffer, be betrayed, and die. He not only promises his disciples that following his suffering he will meet them in Galilee, that’s emphasized in the resurrection account. Now he is returning to Galilee, triumphant over even the power of Satan and death itself. The focus on the nations and the promise to be with his disciples brings to mind the covenant relationship established with Abraham. Matthew 1:1 references Abraham prominently. Now the promise to Abraham that all the nations will be blessed is being fulfilled.

Continue reading “Extraordinary Things through Ordinary Means”

Regardless of where one is on the political spectrum, there is a tendency to see news from someone who differs as “fake news,” or at least believe that facts have been selected or manipulated. The account in Matthew 28:1–15 of the resurrection of Christ gives rise to an attempt to spin the news of the empty tomb.

Believe the truth: Christ has been raised from the dead. Listen to the angel announce the empty tomb. The women arrived to perform their last service to their Lord. They had been faithful during his earthly ministry. They, unlike the frightened disciples, had witnessed the death and burial of their Lord, Matthew 27:55,56. Now they were visiting the tomb, and, as the other gospels tell us, intended to anoint the body. An angel rolled away the stone to reveal the empty tomb. His majestic appearance struck terror in the hearts of the guards, who apparently fainted or were paralyzed with fear. Rolling back the stone was not so much to allow the Lord to exit (his risen body could appear in wonderful ways), but to show that the tomb was indeed empty. What had been a sealed barrier becomes a convenient seat! God provides an angelic messenger with the news that the empty tomb is explained by the resurrection of the Lord. “Yes, the living Saviour, alive for evermore, is the same Jesus who suffered and died. We cannot know him as the living One in any other identity. and we cannot know him in his vicarious suffering and death on our behalf in any other identity than that defined by his resurrection and the endless life that is his by the great event of the first Lord’s day.” (“The Living Saviour,” Collected Writings of John Murray, Vol. 1, p. 43)

Continue reading “The Truth, the Lie, and the Power of the Resurrection”

Sometimes it takes a death to make us realize how much a person means to us. There may have been something of that in Joseph of Airmathea’s actions as he buries Jesus in his own tomb, recorded in Matthew 27:57–66.

Jesus’ burial marks the end of his life of humiliation in your place. Jesus’ death draws people to himself. First the centurion confesses, “Truly, this was the Son of God,” and now, Joseph, from the town of Arimathea, is drawn into an active confession of Christ. Joseph’s faith contrasts with the fear of the disciples. They have fled (though John was present for at least part of the crucifixion). Joseph was a prominent member of the Council (Luke 23:51 tells us that he had not consented to Jesus’ death). Now he openly acknowledges Christ as he goes to Pilate, the Roman governor, and asks for the body of Jesus. Despite the fact that Jesus has just been condemned and executed like a criminal, despite the fact that the Sanhedrin seems to have won in its conflict with Jesus, Joseph asks for the body, removes it from the cross, wraps it in clean linen cloth for burial, and places it in the rock-hewn tomb that he had prepared for himself. “The discrepancy between the majesty of God and the body of the man Jesus was never as great as now. This was all a part of His humiliation, but those who buried Him did not understand that.” (K. Schilder, Christ Crucified, p. 555) Women had been mentioned watching the crucifixion, and now two of them are still there observing the burial.

Continue reading “Placed in a New Tomb”

It’s Memorial Day weekend. We remember with gratitude those who have given their lives for their country. As Matthew 27:45–56 describes the death of Jesus, the text does not simply move us to gratitude for someone willing to die for a noble cause. Rather, he presents the death of Christ as an earthshaking event — literally and figuratively.

Christ’s death means the Day of the Lord has come. Jesus is forsaken. Matthew quotes only one of the seven last words of Jesus, and he reproduces the Aramaic that Jesus used before translating, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” In the Apostles’ Creed we confess, “he descended into hell.” That is not a contradiction of what Luke tells us, that Jesus assured the repentant thief. “today you will be with me in paradise,” nor of the fact that as he died he commended his spirit into the hands of the Father. The essence of hell is separation from the favor and blessing of God, and that is what Jesus endured as the sin-bearer. Some lightly use expressions such as “war is hell.” They may be using figurative language, but I suspect that if they had ever experienced even a little of hell, those expressions would be much less frequent. That afternoon very literally, Golgotha was hell. Jesus takes up Psalm 22:1 to express that pain. Yet, something in that cry keeps it from being utter despair. In all the pain of abandonment, Jesus still addresses the Father as “My God.” Jesus died as the sin-bearer. Because he did, you never need to fear that God has or will abandon you.

Continue reading “Christ’s Earthshaking Death”